Published: Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 11:21 p.m.

Mothers are the ideals by which all the other people in our lives are judged.

That is because they love us no matter what, no matter whether we deserve it, no matter how badly we have erred.

They are our eternal defenders, no matter what.

They are always in our corner.

They enjoy with us — sometimes even more than we enjoy ourselves — our accomplishments. Think of a beaming mother on her child’s graduation day or wedding day.

And they console us in our defeats. The fact that their love is unwavering and unjudging gets us through the times that test us the most severely.

They know, or should know, that what we achieve is only possible because of the tools they gave us.

And they know, or should know, that our failures are usually the result of our ignoring or losing sight of one or more of the traits they gave us.

Mothers work so their children’s lives will be better than theirs.

They selflessly sacrifice years and years of their own lives just so we will be more comfortable and successful in our own.

Their sacrifices begin before we are born and don’t end until death. They want nothing so much as our happiness. And no task is too tough for them to tackle it with our happiness in mind.

Their single-minded determination to do for their children all too often means a neglect of their own happiness or comfort. But they do it without thinking twice about it, and they would do over and over again if they thought it would help us.

Mothers aren’t the only people in our lives who love us. But they are the first to love us and the only ones to love us unflinchingly and without any expectation from us.

We owe them our lives and most of us owe them our happiness.

Do something special for your mother on Mother’s Day. Tell her that you love her and how very much she means to you. After all, it is one of the few times we have a good chance to return a fraction of the love we have gotten from her since birth.

Happy Mother’s Day, and enjoy; you have earned it.

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